1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a batting tee and, more particularly, to a multiple position, disassemblable batting tee.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the game of baseball, one of the most difficult skills to master is that of batting. First, a hitter must be able to coordinate the swing of a bat with the location of a ball so that good contact with the ball can be made while swinging the bat. Once this is mastered, the hitter must next learn to make good contact with the ball at the various positions at which it may cross home plate, from an inside pitch to an outside pitch, and from a high pitch to a low pitch, and various combinations of these two variables.
In the development of these skills, it has been known to provide a baseball tee for supporting a ball at a selected height above a representation of a baseball home plate. With the ball so positioned, the batter can practice swinging thereat to assist in the process of coordinating his hands with his eyes.
A typical batting tee comprises a planar base having the appearance of a baseball home plate with an elongate, length-adjustable member, one end of the member being rigidly connected to the base, typically at the center thereof, the other end of the member being adapted to receive a ball for supporting the ball at a variable height above the base. While such batting tees are widely used, a number of problems exist therewith.
First of all, the tee is capable of supporting a ball at only one horizontal position relative thereto. If a hitter wants to practice hitting inside pitches or outside pitches, he must move his position relative to the home plate to change the relative location between himself and the ball. Unfortunately, this disorients the hitter who is used to assuming a fixed position relative to home plate.
Existing batting tees are usually neither strong nor stable and require glueing, welding, pinning, or the like for connecting the length-adjustable member to the base. The process of packing the shaft is often with one part epoxy; a two part sealing process with the inherent packing cover. As a result, the length-adjustable members are often broken or disconnected from the base when a hitter inadvertently strikes the member rather than the ball when swinging a bat. Furthermore, the assembly procedures for such batting tees often result in a considerable expense for the finished product.
Still further, existing batting tees cannot be readily disassembled, and some cannot be disassembled at all. This makes it inconvenient to package and ship the unit and presents storage problems. Furthermore, a hitter cannot readily take the tee with him wherever he goes for use in practicing batting.